... while I don't subscribe to the Mayan end-of-times prophecy for 2012 (December 21 is 'The Hobbit' release, the world can't end then!), I do feel horribly cynical and a little depressed at the way some things are looking up ahead for the world (you know - financial meltdown, Big Money getting away with everything, the rise of the far-right parties here in Europe, the head-banging obscurantism and reactionary sexist, poverty-bashing attitudes coming from the Republican candidates, SOPA and its ilk....) .... despite being guardedly optimistic about my personal situation ... and, more whimsically, I can't help but wonder if the sheer amount of expectations that something is due to happen in 2012 won't somehow, in some Discworldian-power-of-human-belief rules-of-narrative-causality twist, cause something to actually happen...

Mayans aren't the only ones who protected bad mojo that could possible equate to this year...Lets take a 'RoomMates' look at 'Armageddon' prophecies real quick. you've got the Egyptians with Apophis swallowing the sun. Mr.Steal-Your-Sunshine happens to be a big serpent that looks a good bit like a Chinese Dragon... oh and look at that, Happy Year of the Dragon everybody!

Ok... end crazy rant here, you may resume with regular comic broadcasting.

If everything suddenly starts working in a Discworld way...we are all going to be up a creek without a paddle. Therefore, I'll go hide in a hole and wait for everything to eventually blow up! Have a happy 2012!!

Cute picture, by the way ^.^ Cause we all know, when the world is ending, an umbrella is the only thing which will save you

I think people read into the Mayan thing too much. It's not written or described anywhere that the world will end, the calender just stopped. Probably because the Mayans were a bit busy being slaughtered by the Spaniards at the time. When your entire civilization is being brutally wiped from existance by hordes of murdering conquerors, working on a calender is kinda low on your list of priorities. Just saying.

Yes things are bad now, but not THAT bad. We actually have it pretty easy. We aren't in World war 1 or 2, we're not in the great depression when lots of mothers had still borns because they couldn't afford to feed themselves. (My grandmother lucked out, her mother only weighed 105 pounds when she gave birth to her) And human beings are not kept as slaves because of their skin color.

We're not in the middle ages being wiped out by plaugues like the black death, people aren't being burned or barbarically tortured because they are falsly accused of witchery.

We live in a glorious world of health insurance, vaccinations, equal rights amoung men, women, and all skin colors. We have religous freedom. We have homes, good clothes, food and clean water, even the homeless don't starve to death because there are shelters, food banks, soup kitchens, and many humanitarian programs. There are hundreds of selfless men and women who volenteer their money and their time to build houses for humanity and give refugees of natural disaster a place to start over.

We have internet, shopping malls, ipods, mp3 players, blackberries, smartphones, dvds, hdtv,wii and what have you.

And most importantly, PLUMBING! No one has to go into the woods, dig a hole and squat down to defecate... unless they really want to...

Are there problems? Yes, and there always will be, and each new generation will think they have it harder than the last.

There will always be political morons who think they alone are right and have the answers to everything.There will always be pig-headed men who think being able to pee while standing makes them superior.There will always be people who are rich (either because their parents struggled, worked hard, worked SMART, and slowly built their fortune, or THEY themselves did) and there will always be the middle class (who can provide a decent living) and the poor (who often have plenty of oppertunities but are either too lazy, make poor choices like drinking or drugs, or are just too busy feeling sorry for themeselves to put any effort into improving their lives. Fortune isn't just handed out on a silver plate and the world doesn't owe you or anyone else a living, it's survival of the fittest my friend). And there will always (unfortunately) be paranoid, superstitious, religious nut jobs who fear the end of the world and sinners repent or burn in hell.

The world was going to end in 2000, remember? Then they changed their minds and said the calender was off and the TRUE end of the world is 2001, of course by some miracle we lived through that, so now they are focusing on 2012, and when that falls through some other date will be picked as the true doomsday.

Don't worry or fear the "what ifs", focus on today. If you are too afraid of dying, you forget how to live.

Remember, yesterday is history, tomorrow is a mystery, and today is a gift- that is why it is called the present.

Being a hopeless optimist - I should know better, but I can't help myself - I choose to believe in the "beginning-of-a-new-era" theory. Things are looking rather grim at this point, but who knows? Maybe some kind of worldwide, life changing event will finally knock some sense into Humanity as a whole. Maybe "The Hobbit" will be such a great movie that the Horsemen of the Apocalypse will take the day off to watch it.

Cute picture, but just following with your comments to the art, the world's always seemed a cruddy place but honestly there are beautiful people, beautiful things being created by those people and amazing feats of nature all around. Just sometimes the assholes and chaos in this world seem to cover them up so much, it just takes a little hope and courage to wash away the crap that covers these things and just sit back and be amazed by how amazing this world truly is. It also amazes me that such fragile and delicate things can be spinning so violently on such a small planet. Sure, there might be people/animals hurting but you'll find there will always be someone in this world trying to reach out and ease the pain and bring dignity sooner or later. Just have to stand together strong and keep the "human spirit" running as long as possible in a world which is losing innocence. Honestly to me, the Earth is like each individual person here, we start off strong and free minded but soon having to care for others takes it toll and all things become withered.This is coming from a person who suffered from depression and got by without spiritual or medical guidance or anything involving money but just simply with love and dedication from a mother. Chin up, the world will continue well on into the future. If something does happen, I know at least I made this comment

My belief that we should take 'the world as we knot it will end' phrase quite loosely.

I think that armageddon isn't going to happen, the plagues aren't coming, the sea is not going to boil or anything like that. (However I've had two fears of natural disasters since i was a kid. I had repetive dreams for 2 years when i was 8-10 about an asteriod hitting earth. And I'm also scared of yellow stone volcano sinces it's over due and has been classified of a global killer. XD)

I think something horrific might happen around those date, could be a natural disaster, could be something man made. Society is changing rapidly, the recesion has cuased povety in countries that aren't use to such poverty.(I live in the uk and believe me when i say me and my bf survive on maybe 1meal a day, if we are lucky) This scars people, they are blaming immigrants, goverments ect. Everyone around the world saw the appaling behavour in the uk last year when young and old people alike went feral and cuased riots. I have never been so scared in my life, there were riots where i'm living, but close to where my family lived too.

Anyway year, i think something horrible is gonna happen on the society scale not the world is going to end scales.

I'm also going to add that i was never fond of have a 'christmas' baby....but hell yeah do i want to be able to tell me kids 'Son/daughter, your special you know, the day you were born everyone believed the world was going to end." XD

Look, the planet isn't going to get destroyed. It's the human world as it functions today that's going to end get rebooted. See that meteor right there? It's actually not as big as you think, but not that small either. it's gonna hit Earth and it's gonna crack open and out of it these fairies and creatures are gonna come out and run around the whole planet. And they're gonna change how humans are going to live. It's going to create new connections with people. Make them see things differently. People will befriend these creatures and learn to appreciate Nature more than ever. Then, they'll get together and have wrestling competitions. People will discover the true powers locked inside these creatures and keep having more and more matches. And that's how everyone in the world will be connected. This bond between these space creatures and Humans will grow strong and spread wide to a point that they'll be inseparable. It will be a bond which Humans can carry everywhere they go. Giving them the courage to be the very best, that no one ever was. To catch them is their real test, to train them is their cause. Ooohohh, they will travel across the land searching far and wide. For space creatures to understand, the power that's inside!